Deep Tracks: Motown’s Unreleased and Overlooked Hidden Gems

The Motown catalog is so vast that it’s not surprising that there are a few hidden treasures to be found, but what’s different about Motown’s deep tracks is how many of them were never released until decades after they were recorded. Over the years, they’ve leaked out in this collection or that, but nevertheless, it’s clear that Motown mogul Berry Gordy left a lot of good music in the vaults during the label’s heyday. Even the records here that were released are obscure and were often overshadowed by bigger groups and/or bigger hits. Here, in alphabetical order by the artist’s or group’s name, are ten superb Motown tracks that have largely eluded the average listener, even four-plus decades after they were recorded.

1) “Love’s Gone Bad,” Chris Clark (1966); Billboard Pop #105

On the surface (literally), Chris Clark was the antithesis to everything we’ve come to associate with Motown in the 1960s; she was a six-foot-tall, 17-year-old platinum blonde when she signed with the label in the early ’60s. In fact, Motown chief Berry Gordy was so concerned about how she’d fit in with the image the label projected that he hesitated about signing her and then waited another two years after that to release her first single. About her voice, however, he had no reservations, and “Love’s Gone Bad” tells us why. In this Holland-Dozier-Holland song, Clark sings “Bad taste in my mouth from bitter tears/Heart’s feelin’ sad, ’cause love’s gone bad,” and it all resonates true. Often referred to as Motown’s answer to Dusty Springfield, she had a dynamite voice but never really found her groove at Motown, perhaps because she was under-promoted. This was her highest charting record, though it stalled at #105.

2) “Helpless,” The Four Tops (1965); unreleased as a single

This fine song simply suffered from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that time and place was 1965’s The Four Tops Second Album. It was the sixth song on that album and had the misfortune to be proceeded on the album by “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” which hit #1 on the Billboard pop charts, “It’s the Same Old Song,” which hit #5, and “Something About You,” which hit #19. There were generally three single releases per Motown album, so “Helpless” really had no chance. The Holland-Dozier-Holland song was just too good to leave alone, however, and so Kim Weston recorded and released it in 1966 and had her biggest hit as a solo artist with it.

3) “Take Me in Your Arms,” Eddie Holland (1965); unreleased

Though most people today know Eddie Holland as one member of the famed Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, he actually started his career at Motown as a singer, and by 1965 had racked up four low-charting records for Motown. He reportedly suffered from stage fright, and as the songwriting hits started piling up, he decided to forgo a career as a performer. Although he’d already recorded “Take Me in Your Arms” by that point, it hadn’t been released. Once again, Kim Weston stepped in, recorded it and took it to #50 on the pop charts. Of course, many people are more familiar with the Doobie Brothers’ very fine 1975 cover, which went to #11, but Holland’s original has considerable merit. It was finally released in 2005.

4) “It’s Easy to Fall in Love With a Guy Like You,” Martha and the Vandellas (1966); unreleased

Recorded by the group in 1966, “It’s Easy to Fall in Love…” wasn’t released until 2002 and really hit the public consciousness when used on the Hitch soundtrack in 2005. Yet another example of a great song that languished in the vaults at Motown; it’s pretty obvious that the label suffered from an abundance of riches in the 1960s.

5) “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted (Original),” Jimmy Ruffin (1966); unreleased

This is the only song on this list to be recorded by an artist and then have that artist’s version make the Top 40, but this isn’t the same recording of Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” that charted in 1966. Originally, the song had a spoken introduction, where Ruffin said, “A world filled with love is a wonderful sight/Being in love is one’s heart’s delight./But that look of love isn’t on my face/That enchanted feeling has been replaced.” This version was about 12 seconds longer and, after the intro, rolled right into Ruffin singing “As I walk this land, of broken dreams…” The decision was made, however, to remove the intro and begin the song with the powerful Funk Brothers instrumentals, which now seems an indispensable part of the song. Listeners certainly liked it without the spoken intro; it went to #7 in the Top 40 and #6 on the R&B charts.

6) “Truly Yours,” The Spinners (1966); Billboard Pop #111

When you delve into the history of Motown in the ’60s, you often hear artists lament the fact that they felt some acts were under-promoted while others were favored. Both Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross reportedly felt this way about each other, though I think in either case it would be hard to make a very convincing argument to that effect. Not so for the Spinners, and co-lead Bobbie Smith said they definitely felt unappreciated and under-utilized, which led to their leaving the label in the early 1970s. Based on the success that they had at Atlantic afterwards, it seems the group had a legitimate complaint. They did, in fact, do some great songs for Motown in the ’60s, but they have largely been forgotten. “Truly Yours” is one such song — I think it’s as good as all of those fantastic ’70s hits they had — but it wasn’t really pushed and didn’t even break the Hot 100, stalling at #111.

7) “There’s a Ghost in My House,” R Dean Taylor (1967); did not chart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8wauYyRdPw

The biggest mistake Motown made with this song was not giving it to the Four Tops, because with Levi Stubs singing lead on this, I think it’s a million seller. But R. Dean Taylor wrote this along with the famous Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, and you can’t blame Taylor for deciding to record it himself. After all, he’d later prove he had the chops to cut a hit record with “Indiana Wants Me” in 1970. But listeners in this country never connected with the song, although in England the song went all the way to #3 when re-released in 1974. By the way, it’s not a novelty song, despite what you might think reading the title; the ghost is the singer’s girlfriend’s lingering presence after she’s left him. It’s a great song and one that grows on you — it just lacked that certain something that most Motown records seemed to have.

8) “I Want a Love I Can See,” The Temptations (1963); did not chart

This early track from 1963 was actually one of their first recordings as the Temptations and would be released just a few months before their first Top 40 hit, “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” It didn’t chart, and it lacks the grittiness of some of their later hits such as “Get Ready” and “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” and as such it got lost in the shuffle of the hit-making machine that gave the group more than 50 chart records in the years afterwards. But David Ruffin’s strong voice still exhibits the power obvious on  their later records, and even though it’s more of a slow shuffle than a funky grinder, it’s a fantastic and little-known gem.

9) “You Hit Me (Right Where It Hurt Me),” Kim Weston (1965); unreleased

Like the Spinners, Kim Weston never seemed to get the attention from Berry Gordy that, in retrospect, her body of work seems to have warranted. A lot of the songs she was allowed to record were cast-offs from other groups (see above), and even when given her own material, it seems she still couldn’t catch a break. This excellent song was recorded by Weston in 1965, but inexplicably — like several songs here — it was never released. Alice Clark later recorded and released the song, but her version did nothing. Weston herself finally released it in 1997 on the small Nightmare label, and while it was fairly well-received in England, the shelf-life for the Motown sound was long past its expiration date. On a personal level, this powerful song is one of my favorite all-time Motown recordings, even though I first heard it just a few years ago.

10) “Do I Love You,” Frank Wilson (1965); unreleased

This record is so obscure that when I was putting together this article I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to find a YouTube clip to accompany it. The story is that after Wilson recorded it in 1965, Berry Gordy decided he didn’t like it, and ordered workers to destroy the 250 demo copies of the record that had been pressed. Accounts vary, but it seems that at least two copies survived, and after the record found its way to England during the Northern Soul explosion of the ’70s, its value skyrocketed; today the two known copies in existence are worth roughly $50,000 each. While it’s not quite the greatest Motown track I’ve ever heard, as an unreleased demo (though it was finally released in England 1979 due to its increasing popularity as a dance song), it’s definitely the epitome of a “Deep Track,” and one of the world’s most valuable 45 RPM records.

What’s your favorite little-known Motown gem? Let us know in the comments!

Rick Simmons

Dr. Rick Simmons has published five books, the two most recent being Carolina Beach Music from the '60s to the '80s: The New Wave (2013) and Carolina Beach Music: The Classic Years (2011). Based on his interviews with R&B, “frat rock,” and pop music artists from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, his books examine the decades-old phenomenon known as Carolina beach music and its influence on Southern culture. His next book, The Carolina Beach Music Encyclopedia, 1940-1980, will be published by McFarland in 2018. He currently lives in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.